As people paid their respects on Remembrance Sunday, to war veterans and others who died serving their country, many residents fear their own village war memorial is not always properly cherished.

Residents have told the Gazette they are upset that the war memorial on the Green dedicated to 'the Glorious Dead' has been used as a meeting place by people who leave rubbish, take-aways and cigarette butts, scattered around it.

A man who lives in Newdigate Road East, and did not wish to be named, said: "I have seen teenagers sitting on the monument, smoking and drinking.

"It is so disrespectful. They throw rubbish in the pond and there are fag ends strewn around."

Paul Shewring, who lives near the Green, said: "They are not spray painting or vandalising, or anything like that, but they should remember why it is there.

"Do they know it is in memory of the war dead? It worries me that as years go by, they are not told, and maybe they do not realise why it is there, but it upsets older people; it's like they are sitting on a gravestone."

Another Harefield resident, who lives near the pond, and also did not wish to be named, said: "Years ago there was a chain-linked fence around the monument which was removed for the Second World War effort. We need it again. I've seen beer bottles, cans and take-aways left there, but it's not just kids. I've seen grown-ups sitting there at lunchtime."

Anne Willoughby, assistant bar manager at the Ex Servicemens' Club in the High Street, has a son Shane, who was seriously wounded in Basra, Iraq, 18 months ago.

Shane, 40, a father of six-year-old son, George, was a pupil at Harefield and Infant Junior Schools and John Penrose Secondary, all in the village. He now lives in Salisbury and has just had his sixth operation, this time to remove shrapnel from his side.

Mrs Willoughby said: "Service people put their lives on the line and they should be remembered and respected."